Saturday, January 29, 2011

Here's something that might interest you... some music that helped me get through my workday. It's an album recorded back in 1974/75 by Terry Telson entitled While In Exile. The track that initially drew my attention was When Evening Comes, a real melancholy tune backing the tale of a desperate man. If you're feeling a pinch on your pennies, the toughness of these times...or just the pressures of everyday life...give this a listen, it might just meet you where you're at.....and if that doesn't trap you, maybe the melodic simplicity and low, somber vocals will. Since there are no more hard copies of this album available, Terry has put the tracks up for free download here (what a stand up guy). Check it out....there are definitely several keepers on it. I threw in an extra track for good measure, just because I'm such a nice guy.

Thursday, January 27, 2011

While I was digging around for new artists, I came across this track. Meet Arian Calandra. I couldn't find much info about him, but here is what I uncovered over at Waxidermy :

Charmingly disjointed Uni-Bomber looking dude who had me from the very first listen. Half the tracks have vocals and should appeal to anyone with a soft spot for oddball sincerity. There is an off-kilter feeling that, combined with his sunny themes, I just find super pleasant and refreshing. The rest is instrumental guitar improvisations which is nice as the mix of styles keeps either from getting too monotonous. I will refrain from over-hyping it as the OMG SAVE YOUR EUROS PRIVATE EARLY 80′s MONSTER OF THE WEEK, but I keep coming back to this one and have gotten positive reactions from the handful of people I've played it for.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. What a great song!!!!...even if his timing is a little bit off. The more I listen to it, the more I love it. Hopefully someone will re-issue this album.It would be a fun one to give a spin on the old turntable.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

This past Friday, Trish Keenan, the lead singer of the band Broadcast, past away after struggling with pneumonia and its complications for the past couple of weeks. Whether you are familiar or unfamiliar with the 42 year olds' music, check out Broadcast's excellent live recording from back in 2000 entitled Black Session...http://www.mediafire.com/?22gwc9c686cygud. I found it over at Aquarium Drunkard. Check it out.

Also, I posted a mixtape below that Trish recently made for her friend, David Brewster. Here's the original post describing the context for the mixtape:

“Trish Keenan from Broadcast passed away on Friday 14th January 2011, she was an amazing, talented woman and will be missed by many.In December 2010 Trish sent me a mix CD she compiled, I never thanked her. Its called Mind Bending Motorway Mix and I want to share it with you, please pass the link on, share it far and wide, its a little tribute to a (as a friend referred to her today) exhilarating woman.Sorry I don’t have a tracklist and to be honest I like it that way. I think its less about who you’re listening to on this compilation and more about the fact you are listening to something that Trish took time to select and compile for me and in turn yourselves. Please just enjoy the music.I would send stuff to Trish every now and then and she would send bits back to me (I have a pile of films about witches that inspired the last lp with Focus Group still to watch). The last thing she sent me was this mix and the Ghost Box 7 inch with Focus Group. It was a lovely gift and my friends and I listened to it on our way to ATP in December. Anyway I was rubbish, crap excuse of being busy and moving home (but how much time does a text message take?) so I never thanked her for it until last Sunday, by which time she would have been in hospital. I’m sure she knows how much I appreciated the CD and reading everyones reactions to it has been overwhelming, she touched so many lives. I miss her and will continue to do so for a long time, but my thoughts are with James and Trish’s family, I can’t imagine what they are going through. Never miss an opportunity to say thank you or I love you because you’ll never get that moment back.”

Monday, January 17, 2011

"I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, that rough places will be made straight and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together."

This is a woodblock that I made a couple of years ago to commemorate the life of Martin Luther King Jr. I'm sorry for its fuzziness. I'll upload an actual scanned print once I unpack/find them.

The songs are two different takes on a traditional tune....One version by Reverend Lonnie Farris that appears on an album entitled "Slide Guitar Gospel 1944-64 The Complete Recordings of REV. UTAH SMITH & REV. LONNIE FARRIS In Chronological Order". It surfaced with more exposure in 2008 when Mississippi Records put the track on their "Oh Graveyard, You Can't Hold Me Always" various artists comp....

The second version comes from The U.S. Apple Corps' self titled album from 1970....an album full of new takes on many gospel standards by the great "Jesus Movement" band.

Friday, January 14, 2011

It's been a while since I posted anything...I have been pretty busy lately. Amidst the holidays, purchasing and moving into a new house, working, and spending time with the family, I have not had an excess of time. Needless to say, I haven't had much time to do any projects. The most I have been able to do is draw in my sketchbook on my lunch breaks at work and when I have a few spare minutes while we're out running errands. So, even though they're not much, here are my glorified doodles. Along with them is a mix that I slapped together...not exactly what I had hoped for, but it will have to do. (Mediafire link after the images)

Thursday, January 13, 2011

{four}such a fond short flash the way we kept the little birds warm all thru the night -new hampshire to virginia and back -if those birds knew just half the words that gave heat to their feet i reckon we’d both be flying by now

Sunday, January 9, 2011

{three}

at the prospect of the coming monthsi rub my feet together like two sticksi should probably strip the tree of tinsel this afternoontoss it’s dead, dry body into the shallow snow beyond the plow driftsmaybe clear a path to the barnbut it’s likely i won’ti can feel the weight of that tree just looking at itcan feel the labor of it in my heartonce again the cold horizon calls to me thru the curtainsas the old furnace issues another coughthe house creaking

rattling from one end to the other like a shiver in the spineman is wood tough!oh God how i wish i was as tough as a treestrong & uprighti feel like a bent birchcold & heavy like a snow bankdark as nightthere’s time yet i suppose for me to take up my treeit would likely do me good to get outwalk the length of the road to the mailboxlet my eyes tear up with windtake in the cutting air like a winstonsure as sundown, it would do me goodand surely i’ve got a mind to do itbut i’ve minded these things before

Friday, January 7, 2011

{two} abiding in the contemplative silence of what it means for me to love within my own reach – to walk beside the fearsome death loitering in the foreground of all our unspoken queries as we sense the gaze – to live & breathe alongside those who live & breathe in that long lonesome wait for the clapping praise that never seems to come - one good word can carry a woman thru fire – can raise a man above the treeline – how seldom we are free of it – keeping silence I hear it so loud in me – silence is for the brave or maybe the ignorant - i am neither

the static – when it settles - what fortress does He hold out for me that I’ve not yet reached for - not begun to grasp – what refuge reserved – what rest?

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Ramses' agent asked, "What is it horse face?"the father asked the son, "When will the cold go away?"history teacher rambled on and her colleague wanted to tell her"Man, Sandra, you are weird." in a nice waysaid the Bear to the Bee: "Bear my soul and you will seea landscape being built upon; remodeled; redecorated"the "he" wanted to tell the "advisor", "I want to change my major. I wantto teach English to eighth graders instead."the Americans on the reservations said, "Crystal meth, leave our land!!!"Asian girls clamoured in front of the local Kroger. Their giggles and body language said,"We are hipper than you will ever understand."the Night said to the Day, "It is good to see you again. Now...GIVE ME THE KEYS! THIS IS A STICK-UP!!!"and Gerald, my guitar, sang praises to the one true God that sounded likea soul crying, or Hawaii romanticism or Levi Americana clothing, or a Wim Wenders film or something more like reconcillation, and love and, playful adoration and"Thank You Lord for making me: metal, knob, keys and strings"

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

hope some folks are up for a bit of poetry during these long winter months. i've recently been inspired to begin a series of poems to get me thru this season. i have a bad habit of gettin' the blues, especially this time of the year. once the holidays have passed, it's a long haul here in the backwoods of new hampshire. perhaps a few of you know where i'm comin' from. adding to this, i've been feeling the need to push myself into a new place with my poetry lately. getting overly analytical & critical (conscious) of what you're writing can be pretty debilitating at times. i've been rereading kerouacs "mexico city blues" collection recently, and just read his mini philosophy on writing called "essentials of spontaneous prose" (here). i've loosely tried my hand at this before and always get stuck when it comes to editing (kerouac is anti-edit) and end up frustrated. for this collection of poetry, i'm goin' for it. if i don't edit - alright. if i do edit - it's cool baby, it's cool. if editing robs my poetry of the purity of essence, than put me down as non-essential. i'm in it to have a good time while attempting to purge myself of the winter blues. hope you guys enjoy looking in on the experiment. if you haven't figured it out yet, i'll be calling the collection "cold horizons." here goes:

{ONE}

taking me by the handshe leads on to the smooth majestic elbow strokesmeandering knees& God knows what elsecreepy wonders marvelous & alive!& all this awe purely from the outsidebut in methe shame - oh Godof the small shallow vision that I carry

<{(please)}>

if you see or hear something you like within these pages, be sure to support the artists. also, if we've posted something that belongs to you, and you'd like it removed, let us know so we can make it disappear. thanks